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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Art Incorporated, September 15, 2007
In Art Incorporated: The Story of Contemporary Art Julian Stallabrass unpacks the "peculiar economy" that is the international contemporary art world using the premise that "free" art and free trade form a dominant global system. This book is an indictment of contemporary art as an unavoidable participant in a deadening and homogenizing neoliberal economy. The strength of Art Incorporated is Stallabrass' use of historical examples to tie social and theoretical changes to specific events within the art world occurring between 1989 and the first years of the 21st century.
First, Stallabrass attacks the notion of a `zone of freedom' within which art is produced and sold by demonstrating the links between the economy of art and that of finance capital. He reveals the strangeness of the perpetuation of the mantra of the unknowability of art and asserts that it is `pure propaganda'. The rise of the multicultural show coincides with the end of the cold war and the rise of `unrestrained' capitalism.
In the second chapter of the book, Stallabrass discusses the growing phenomenon of the international art biennial. This compilation of information on biennales around the world, the impetus behind their creation and the analyses of work displayed, effectively caution the reader against an uncritical adherence to "cultural mixing and hybridity". Stallabrass is highly critical of conglomerates of art, especially installation and site-specific work, as mobilized for "regional or urban development". He aptly calls biennale curators "nomadic specialists" who perpetuate a false notion of diversity within the globalized art world. The author's intension here is expose biennales as often highly problematic shams, unworthy of the social and political caché typically ceded to them.
Next, Stallabrass takes on the issue of art's complicated relationship with commodity culture. In particular, he situates art production in relation to postmodern theory in the 1990s, technological changes of the decade such as the digitization of data and the increased power of branding. This topic leads nicely into a chapter on the uses and prices of art in which Stallabrass details the ebbs and flows of the international art market. His discussion of the corporate sponsorship of museums and other art exhibitions is especially good at conveying the difficult positions of many art institutions.
In the next to last chapter, Stallabrass writes "the rules of art now" by tracing the development of theory integrated well with examples of specific artists. He also compares and critiques the different routes U.S. art writers Arthur Danto, Thomas McEvilley, and Dave Hickey all take to concluding that the contemporary art world is "almost alright". Stallabrass ends his book with a summation of the contradictions in contemporary art.
The value of this book definitely lies in its usefulness as a primer and as a resource for understanding the theoretical and economic filtering mechanisms of the art world system. It is an impressive characterization of a period of contemporary art in the neoliberal terms of economic inequality, the politics of deregulation and privatization and the culture of unrestrained consumerism. Art Incorporated, while offering a bleak image of the international art world, also provides a vital template for the critical evaluation its future developments.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Art Incorporated , September 22, 2008
Being a young ambitious artist, I read Art Incorporated once and developed a hatred for Julian Stallabrass. He paints a grim view of the contemporary art world-- to the point that I became ashamed to be labeled an "artist."
Then I read the book again and realized that perhaps it is not Stallasbrass that I hate, but the portrait that he paints of todays international art economy. Appropriately reading Art Incorporated today (in 2008), where our economy is in great hardship, I had a revelation. Not only does he remind me that unpredictability of mass culture, politics and the economy change do to money (or the lack their of), but the art world changes with the times as well.
Art Incorporated, by Julian Stallabrass gives an in depth history of the art world from the past 20 years. He takes you on a global journey, describing art and showing examples everywhere from Asia to Africa to Latin America and beyond. He attempts to answer how the economy has formed our (artists and observers) view of what "art" is and what "art" is used for.
Stallabrass begins the book by telling the audience that artists live in a "zone of freedom." He talks about the cultural lines which artists can cross, simply by creating art, and how the "wealthy" buy this work to "inhale the scent of freedom." His approach to beginning the book with such strong viewpoints is powerful and believe me, filled me with great emotion!
Alongside his discussion of "freedom" he introduces examples of work that is extreme and shocking, which is always fun to look at (expectantly if you are not familiar with these works).
He goes on to discuss how the Cold War changed the art world enormously. During this time, instead of artists creating works for shock value, and personal protest, he discusses how the government used these same artists to create propaganda in the US and abroad. His views of the post war art world is littered with pop culture and consumer ideals. He draws connections between the hardship of life and the change in the art market.
What I found the most interesting was Stallabrass's views of the ever popular biennial. The biennial, who's sole purpose is to bring international artists together and diversify locations around the world, is often a poor event for the host city. Stallabrass opened your eyes to the other side of these "wonderful cultural events" and plays devils advocate throughout.
He ends the book with ideas of how to "fix" the art market and by suggesting that artists use technology like the Internet to bombard the market with serious political art. He also goes as far as discussing the destruction of art as art (or a statement of).
I must admit, Art Incorporated was a bit difficult to digest at first but I do believe it is a book that will satisfy not only artists but activists that are interested in the strange relationship of money and "product" (aka art).
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Art Incorporated by Julian Stallabrass, September 16, 2007
Julian Stallabrass tries to capture the art world from the advent of neoliberalism in the 1940's. Moving internationally, the art world is forced to embrace consumerist culture. Culture wars between the political right and the left, the merging of fine art and mass produced materials (that of kitsch), and the beginning of art forms such as installation art has all had profound effects on the movement of the art market.
Stallabrass approaches these issues very broadly and expects his audience to view it as an overview of topics to research more closely. Stallabrass jumps right in to relating artists to the art world but does not provide any foundation for what neoliberalism is in context to the globalized art market. I suggest to do some research first on that term. In short however, neoliberalism pertains to the privatization of the art market i.e .: the corporations. This foundation is free in some respects but the consumer and the artist always need to be thinking about who is funding them and therefore, censoring themselves. Stallabrass talks about privatization in length and stresses it's dismal effects in the art world.
One topic that worldwide privatization has affected is biennials. Reaching out to struggling countries runs the risk of being ill received such as in South Africa (38). Overall, the outreach into other countries pushes western ideals instead of embracing the culture of the land. This may just mean that these countries are not ready for an elitist cultural arena. The interesting aspect of this dialogue, however, was the idea that artists in struggling countries are dealing with issues that can jump through history. The extreme social differences in terms of wealth might very well produce some of the most interesting work. Instead of dealing with petty ironies and pure aesthetic conditions, the artist in a struggling country might have more to say.
Another effect of privatization was brought up describing Tracey Emin's work in chapter 4: uses and prices of art. Stallabrass compares her work to that of a robot that spits out predictable work.
"Such artists as brands are again allegorical figures that, like robots, deliver particular and predictable behavior along with other outputs (145)." Corporate sponsorship of exhibitions is a danger because it leads to less radical thought and content. If museums create themselves with restrictions including branding themselves in color, text, and style, the likelihood of the exhibitions to be extremely dry is much greater. Stallabrass also mentions Damien Hirst 'Absolut Hirst' add that backs up his claim that advertising and corporations might filter too much of the "art" out of the art (133).
Stallabrass's observations are sarcastic and quite apocalyptic. Free expression is a luxury from the past. It is impossible now to make artwork that is free from the burden of the art world. One can take talking points and further research from Stallabrass and choose whether or not to leave the doomsday feeling behind.
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